So the tournament of Americas is here. Argentina is the local and the main favorite to win the whole thing and get a place in London next year.This is a grizzled team, with an average age of 32. Our "young" guy is 29 year old Delfino. These guys have played with each other their whole life. Maybe its the heat of the moment, but im feelling confident about the London olympics.

Withouth further ado, the Argentinean Roster:

Continue reading this post »

In what may have been the best sporting event I have ever atended, Argentina just slayed Venezuela while playing perfect basketball on both ends on the Orfeo Stadium, placed in the city of Cordoba where I study. I Had trouble with the camera because I dont have one, so I dont know If I can get pictures and video up. Hopefully my friend could take some photos with his cel phone, Ill post them later.

I was able to watch all the action from the 2nd row and I have to say… the experience really surpassed my expectactions. It was just breathtaking to watch all these incredible players in person. Ill get to the details in just a bit, but each player had something distinctive about them. Its just not the sheer size, its not just the amazing display of abilities….its something else. Just like every great team, this group shows something extra when they are together.  

I have a lot to say about the whole experience, so If you just want to go the part where Manu appears go to MANU ALERT MANU ALERT MANU ALERT!!....but maybe youll miss an anecdote about our beloved argentinean along the way ^^

First of all, lets get back one day before the  game 

<

Continue reading this post »

Well this sucks. Its was already bad to have my favorite player get injured on the last game of the season.....2 days later I hyperextended my elbow in a very similar way at my college basketball practice. At first I thought I broke something, but all the examninations were negative. I have the exact same injury than manu right now (except that I injured my left arm).It happened in similar fashion, with the one difference that I went for a  blocked shot before hyperextending my elbow.

I can tell you this: its reallly reallly realllyyyyy painful, even closing my fist makes the elbow hurt.  IM putting a good effort to write this. Now onto the bright side : Of course im just hours removed from suffering the accident and the pain has wilted a lot since then. I have full mobility of my elbow, its functioning just perfect, the only trouble is the painful pain. And according to my doctor Ill be fine in a week or so. If I can heal that quickly then Manu should be near 100% for sunday once you take into account that he is a professional athlete, he is getting the best and most expensive medical care in the world and the fact that he is FRICKIN MANU GINOBILI. Even if he misses the first game, Im pretty sure that its going to be for preventive purposes so he can be at a full full 100% for the rest of the playoffs.

Painkillers work just fine, and im pretty sure manu is going to get a nice dose of them.

Anyways, I think my horrible injury gives us a little mojo boost....what do you think? (no, I didnt injury my elbow on purpose....right? maybe my subconcious did the job). Now I can say im "like manu" in  a very painful way

So, after a pretty bad day in baskeball terms, I decided it was time to cheer up. And what better way to do that than checking the fantasy league "pounding more rock" I've been leading for a long while? After all, I was one day away from winning it with a 2 point lead. Nothing bad could happen right? WRONG!!! Out of nowhere "the duncan ultimatum" raised and tied the thing down. And Bushka was there to make a comical three way tie at the top. Ahhh... :( :(
Anyways, It was great fun joining my first fantasy league. Aside from checking every day how my team was doing, it changed a bit the way I looked at the nba. I started to cheer for teams and players I would never have thought of. I even got pissed when some non-spurs players got injured.

I think I never got used to the messages section (I didnt pay much atention) and I made only one trade so at times I felt like I was playing against IA. But then I would see familiar PTR nicknames and smile.

It all started with a dreadful draft that I missed. So my team got autopicked. Just after the first day I took it as a challenge to make it to the top 3 at least while starting with an awful fantasy roster (at least compared to others). The only really good guy I got was Durant. He carried my team for the whole season. How did I acomplish my goal with a badly autopicked roster? The waiver wire. I signed and waived lots of players during the season. And almost every single one of them worked pretty nice (except Spencer Hawes...you suck).

Now.....is there any way we can play some sort of tantasy game in the playoffs?
I would LOVE to see that old game back were we would predict Spurs games and their point totals. Almost all the PTRers participated back then.

PD: thanks to all the people that participated in "pounding more rock". My only  complain would be to have a little more feedback between the owners (a little of mea culpa on that)

PD2: Marcin Gortat you rock. You are like Tiago and Blair fused into one super center

PD3: I actually signed Sonny Weems for a couple of days and he averaged like 26 points for me. Sonny frickin Weems. Strange times.

PD4: I know that only like 2 and 1/2 people will read this post. Im sorry, you cant get your time back. I can give you the best singer EVER. I love the haircut

This wasnt just a simple game. Dont ever for a second believe that this was just another game for the methodical, proffesional spurs.

125-95

Hear me people, this is the most invested, focused and determined I have ever seen the spurs on a regular season game. And it was a big "F*** YOU" to the whole media, to ESPN, and to the rest of the NBA.

Tonight, the spurs let out the real beast. Popovich and crew sent a message: "we are 51-11 and we were fuckin coasting the whole time"

Dont believe me? How do you explain Tony Parker coming OUT OF NOWHERE from a suposed 4 week absence to play just like he was never injured? As it was pointed out at 48minutesfromhell, even on the shootaround and just before the game parker was acting like he wasnt at full strength. It was just a big conspiration to fuck with miami's game plan.

When was the last time Tim said "GAME OVER" in the first quarter of a game? Heck, when was the last time he said it in ANY quarter of any game?

Did you see Parker getting pushed violently by Dampier and laughing his ass off afterwards?

I think that the Spurs were getting ready for this game, getting ready to show the world who they are, how good they can be at full strength. They were determined to embarras the heat. But in Spurs fashion: with extra passes, with great rotations, playing as a team. Yes we were showboating, but in a way only the spurs can. We insult other teams by playing smart, unselfish basketball. And tonight, we did it for most of the 48 minutes.

So Fuck you ESPN and casual fans. We just destroyed your dear "team", if we can call it that. And it was all part of the plan. Pop already knew this was a win long time ago. He is a genius like that. He has tiger blood and adonis DNA.

Oh...and we rested MCdyess so he can make another winning tip in against the lakers on sunday.

FUCK YOU, WE ARE FUCKIN GOOD. We are tired of flying under the radar, but we'll keep it that way until games really matter. Tonight was just a little sneak peak., our guys having fun, enjoying to be so so so good as a team. Well get back to coasting for three quarters and closing the game in the 4th really soon.

Oh and....FUCK YOU LEBRON. And FUCK YOU WADE. Tell me how Matt bonner ass tastes.

AND BOSH? You are a joke. You let Lebron transform you into Drew Gooden.

(Last time I post drunken, I promise)

Yes im from Argentina. Yes Im still hoping for the miracle of  winning it all. But right now I think we are not even the 3rd best team.

Everyone is talking about Spain and Usa...while adding argentina a notch below. While that's somewhat acurate, I think many people are overlooking another contender: Greece. Dont sleep on them. In fact, I have them winning it all. Forget about the eurobasket. They will get their shit together. They are STACKED and ready to go. You cant say the same things about the other 3 contenders.

Continue reading this post »

After reading a post from our resident leader (wayne vore, we love you grandpa!) and discussing a lot about what we need to round out our roster, the answer is always the same: "we need to get a defensive stopper!!".

Preach it ATS!

Maybe that should be a post. Who are the league’s perimeter defensive stoppers? Not guys who are athletic and long and COULD be, but guys who are known to bust their ass and work guys over.

How many of those really exist? And how important is to have a "defensive stopper" when he provides almost nothing on offense?

Continue reading this post »

So after all the debate about the Jefferson trade we all agree that it was another great move by the Spurs FO. We are right back in the thick of things, and we only need to add a couple of bigs who can rebound and we are set to go.

But, then we have all these analysts saying that we missed on getting a big free agent in 2010, that we lost on a big oportunity to extend the spurs domination beyond Duncan's tenure. This is bullshit, like half the teams in the league are preparing themselves to be players in the 2010 market, and we all know San Antonio is not one of the most coveted places to land. Yes there are lots of good players to be had, but the franchise players would be long gone with the spurs fighting to get at best a borderline all-star. Just check the list, I put it in order from best to worst.

Continue reading this post »

Yeah we all know that espn writers are a super bag of douchebags. Still, I went there to read the ocasional article. Not anymore.

Look at defensive player of the year...... Howard, Wade, Lebron, Kobe and Paul?!??! Those guys probably arent even the best defensive players on their teams.JORDAN IS GONE, STOP TRYING TO SELL THE LEAGUE WITH STARS.

Seriously??!?! No artest? No Batter? No duncan? heck... no Mbah la mouthe?

And the arguments to put those players in the top 5? "he had X rebounds, X steals, X blocks the past week".

FUCK ESPN, i've seen the light (well I already saw it long time ago, but still the masochist in me went regularly to that Lebron/kobe ballsucking fest)

(oh and somehow Spolestra is 3rd for coach of the year while the coach of a 40-19 team doesnt get a mention)

This sunday was the deadline for players to be playoff eligible if they signed with a new team. For that reason, Joe Smith and Drew Gooden were waived by their teams.

There are rumors that Joe Smith will sign with the Cavaleirs while  Gooden is more likely to end up with the Spurs or Mavs. We dont have a lot of money to throw to one of these guys, but the fact that the Spurs seem to be serious contenders this year could make for a ring chasing contract. The Cavs are probably in better shape, but they wont sign both Smith and Gooden. So that leaves the Spurs and the Mavs fighitng for the remaining guy. We are second in the west, the mavs are fighting with the suns to just be in the playoffs.

What do you say PTR? Shall we get Joe Smith or Drew Gooden? Are Kurt Thomas and Oberto playing good enough lately? I think we should go at it. To me it seems like a very low risk-high reward possibilty. Lets face it, we are one piece away from the 'ship, but not a big piece.

My favorite thing about the NBA on mondays is the last Garbage Time All-Stars. Its a NBA-based comic, very funny and incredibly accurate. I recommend it for a couple of big laughs. Besides the caricatures are just awesome.

Their official page

Their monday updates get posted on Ball dont Lie, the last one catched my atention because it includes Tony and Tim in two very funny frames: HERE

I like how the guy that thinks about the "script" has a lot of good knowledge about the NBA.

As noticed against the lakers last game, Bonner alone wont cut it. We need another capable big. We've been talking a lot about a certain Joe Smith. It makes perfect sense. They have a crapload of young bigs, and Joe is being wasted on the bench. They just signed Nenad Kristic. They still have Chris Wilcox and Collison.

Joe Smith is on a expiring contract. So we have to give them other expiring contracts and some considerations for giving us a decent player. Easy stuff.

But... is Joe Smith enough to get us over the top? I say no, he is an improvement over what we have, but not a big difference maker. So lets keep swinging deals. Arent you tired of "michael finley, nba starter who plays 30 minutes"? Lets improve that position too!! Its time to invoke some argentinian powers, lets summon the NOCIONI!

First my idea

This is every fans dream, to convert a bunch of crap into something.

We get: Nocioni and Joe Smith, while sending away 5 players (udoka, kurt, fab, Yawn, finley)

Why would chicago make the trade? They unload Nocioni's long contract and solve a lot of problems in playing time for their youngsters.

Why would the Thundercats make the trade? They get a lot of project big men (they cant never have enough!) and if the winning at basketball thing doesnt work out then Sam Presti can take the world over with his army of stiffs.

Why would the Spurs make the trade? We are giving away our 7-12 men and a lot of foreign players that we will never see in black and silver for 2 solid players for the needed 9 man rotation.

We still need to sign 2 players to make the minimum roster, so here are my picks:

-George Mhuresan (he is big and can foul people, your average backup center)

-The guy who looks like Duncan (TGWLLD, the one of the illusion crushin thread, We could put him some minutes with the real Duncan just to confuse other teams, he could get instant double coverage from the other team so if he knows how to pass a ball then we are set for the fifth banner)

Our roster then would look like this:

1-Parker  6-Hill  11-the JV

2-Ginobili 7-Mason

3-Nocioni 8-Bruce Bowen 10-Malik whatever

4-Tim Duncan  9-Matt Bonner

5-Joe Smith - 12-TGWLLD 13-George Mureshan

A pretty decent 9 man rotation if you ask, with some secret weapons like our resident PTRer.

Side note: is there a coaching staff trading machine? I want Dr house and Sawyer as assistant coaches for Pop.

We have the best point guard in the world.

Tony? Not him.... the other guy..... the one who is leading the olympics in assists:

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/08/olym/men/stat/fe_stat_playLead.asp?competitioncode=&currentpagetodisplay=&fixeddate=&langlc=en&season=&roundID=4004&StatisticsPosition=ALL&StatisticsSection=AS&StatisticsRoundID=ALL

BTW i love cheese! Who wants some cheese... CHEESE cheeseeeeeee cheeseeeeeee cheeseeeeeee cheeseeeeeee cheeseeeeeee cheeseeeeeee

Dancing with myself oh oh!!! Dancing with myself OH OH!!!

3 more words: Vaughn and Finley suck

Today sucked..... i cant even explain my pain of seeing how my beloved spurs lost another big chance.

What kills me is that the famous Celtics-Lakers finals all the media/Stern/idiotic fans wants to see is about to happen...... then i saw this:

Pistons 2 - Celtics 2

I know you think this is lame, but GO PISTONS GO!!

Destroy the celtics, then the lakers... i know you can do it... for the name of basketball and whats left of decent humanity in the world... please ruin everyones party, spit their meals, have sex with their wives.... please DO IT, silence the fuc**king media, do it AGAIN, silence those bandwagoners lakers fans like in the 2004 (btw not all lakers fans are shit, some of them truly apreciate basketball but most are mediocre people who just follow the most popular team)

I was dreaming of another Spurs - Pistons finals.... i really respect Detroit, they deserve another championship, it would be good for the league that a team of good management, intelligent at drafting wins it all, instead of a team like the Celtics or Lakers that robbed stupid GM's and lured away stars just because they are popular...